Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi met his Russian and Turkish counterparts Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Tehran on Tuesday.

Iran had invited to the summit meeting of the three presidents as part of the Astana process, in which the three states have been coordinating their actions in Syria since 2017.

Before the start of the meeting, the Kremlin said Putin and Erdogan were "100 percent" talking about efforts to release millions of tons of Ukrainian wheat blocked in Black Sea ports.

Discussions are currently taking place in Istanbul about a security corridor for the export of the grain.

Turkey offers to protect the corridor with its navy. 

Rainer Herman

Editor in Politics.

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"With your help, we have moved forward," Putin told Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to the Kremlin. Iranian media wrote that Raisi wanted to ask Putin for help with wheat supplies.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahian described the summit meeting as the beginning of a “neighborhood- and regional-oriented policy”.

The three states have common interests in the areas of economy, energy and food security, the minister explained.

Before the arrival of the Russian President, the Iranian revolutionary leader Ali Khamenei warned Turkey against another invasion of Syria.

Another invasion would harm the entire region and only help the terrorists, Khamenei told Turkish President Erdogan, according to Iranian state television.

"We consider security in Syria to be our own security," Khamenei said.

Syria's territorial integrity is very important to Iran.

Erdogan had traveled to Tehran with the intention of securing Russian and Iranian support for a fourth Turkish incursion into Syria since 2016.

Turkey and Iran want to work more closely together

Erdogan held bilateral conferences with Khamenei and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.

In the presence of Erdogan and Raisi, Turkish and Iranian ministers signed eight declarations of intent and agreements for closer cooperation in areas such as social security and sports, as well as an exchange on economic development issues.

Erdogan said in the press conference that they want to increase the bilateral trade volume from the current $7.5 billion to $30 billion.

This should be made possible through closer cooperation on oil and gas.

Also on Tuesday, the Russian state energy company Gazprom and the Iranian oil company NIOC, which is also state-owned, signed a declaration of intent in Tehran on joint projects worth 40 billion dollars.

Gazprom wants to support NIOC in the development of two gas and six oil fields.

Russia is also to be involved in Iranian liquid gas projects.

Russia and Iran have the world's largest gas reserves.

The head of the central bank of Iran announced that it would facilitate the settlement of foreign exchange trades between the ruble and the Iranian rial.